ozymandias - percy bysshe shelley

Themes: Hubris Fragility of power Abuse of power Man VS Nature

(Broken) Petrarchan sonnet

• Typically used for love poems

• It is ironic as the only love in the whole poem is Ozy’s narcissistic nature, delusional sense of power and supremacy

• Broken sonnet form can reflect his warped perception and obsession with power, OR how he has no more power (like broken heart = no more love logic)

Rhyme scheme is transitory (ABABACDCEDEFEF)

• Switching, adapting, and changing sonnet form reflects the main idea of power bringing transitory, temporary 

• context: Shelley wrote Ozy as a warning to the monarchy, that all power is transitory, despite his influential position at the time.

Starts with ‘I’, ends with ‘lone’, ‘far away’

• Shows the insignificance of man once again, the juxtaposition between the two once again emphasizes the colossal works of Ozy, as well as the sunken legacy nature has corroded.

• we get it mankind sucks

“Whose frown / And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command”

• Pejoratives “frown”, “wrinkled”, “sneer”, “cold”

  • hostile,  tyrannical command

• Guttural alliteration “cold command”

  • Cacophonic, mimics the choking of people under his reign, suffocating due to his abusive regime

“King of kings”

• biblical reference to ‘king of kings, lord of lords’

  • Criticizes the church, organized religion

  • The statue’s dead, crumbled state reflects the fact that the church will crumble too

  • context: Shelley’s romantic views on atheism

• hyperbolic description

  • Narcissistic, and arrogant, Ozymandias sees himself as equal to God

“Colossal wreck”

• oxymoron, shows the juxtaposition between Ozy’s legacy and what is left behind.

“Nothing beside remains”

• Bathos

  • The sudden transition from exclamations ‘Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ makes Ozymandias’ claims seem bathetic, pathetic, and sad. 

  • Emphasizes man vs nature

    • Ozymandias’ rule (which has been built up in prev. lines) has succumbed and fallen under the power of nature, showing how temporal power is

• The short sentence is underwhelming, and emphasizes the emptiness of Ozymandias’ legacy

“boundless and bare, / The lone and level sands stretch far away”

• Long sentence, ending the poem with nature.

  • In the end, nature has outlived Ozymandias’ legacy 

    • context: Warning/message to King George III, no matter how influential you are, all power is transitory, ephemeral type shit

• The alliteration of L crates a lilical, slurred speech that emphasizes the emptiness of the desert vs Ozymandias’ barren legacy

context

• Anti-monarcist

• Romantic Poet 

  • nature is omnipotent yadiyadiya

  • organized religion no

• Ramesses II

  • Similar to KG III, lots of military conflicts to expand borders

  • Ozymandias is Ram’s Greek name, which is less well-known (Shelley may suggest that fame is temporal??)